Blog

  • What Happened to Frein’s Face?

    Accused cop killer Eric Frein, one of the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, was captured after a 48-day manhunt in Pennsylvania. He’s now charged with first-degree murder, homicide of a law enforcement officer, attempted murder and possession of weapons of mass destruction.

    U.S. Marshals Service Task force commander Scott Malkowski told ABC News that once Frein was spotted, they surrounded him, identified themselves and ordered the fugitive to the ground without incident. However looking at his mug shot — taken when he was booked — it appears Frein was beaten following his apprehension.

    “He made no attempt to flee and didn’t put up a fight,” Malkowski claimed on camera, as he described how the arrest was made.

    Despite Malkowski’s comment, the bridge of Frein’s nose is bloody and appears broken. He also has an abrasion over his left-eye and his left-eye socket looks bruised and swollen as if he’d been struck.

    Perhaps, the Department of Justice should take a look at this case. But don’t expect this happen to as the DOJ’s too busy trying to make a case for civil rights violations in Ferguson, Missouri.

  • What the Army says About Ebola

    As the Center for Disease Control continues to claim Ebola is hard to catch and can’t be transmitted through ‘airborne’ means, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases handbook, titled “USAMRID’s Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook,” warns it can be.

    From the chapter, “Viral Hemorrhagic Fever,’ — a category that includes Ebola, — on page 177, it reads: “In several instances, secondary infections among contacts and medical personnel without direct body fluid exposure have been documented. These instances have prompted concern of a rare phenomenon of aerosol transmission of infection.”

    The most recent edition was published in 2011, with more than 100,000 copies distributed to both military and civilian health-care providers world-wide.

  • Death Before Daybreak

    It was a chilly morning, jus’ after midnight, November 8, 1947, when the four Reno Police officers, a Captain, a Sergeant and two detectives, entered the darkened hallway of the Carlton Hotel at 218 North Sierra Street, near where the Ace Motor Lodge now stands. By the time the acrid-smell of the gun smoke cleared, two of Reno’s finest would be dead.

    When they knocked on the door Reno Detective Sergeants Gene Cowan and Darrell Reid were met with resistance by one of the suspects but were able to disarm him. Meanwhile, Sergeant Allen Glass and Night Captain Leroy Geach entered the adjoining bedroom where they located a second suspect in the bed.

    As Geach, 56, removed the blanket, the suspect immediately opened fire; the bullets passing through Geach into Glass, 36. Both were shot and killed, by a teen, “who discharged a .38 caliber super automatic seven times…”

    Neither had an opportunity to draw their weapon, let alone return fire.

    Alerted to the gunplay, Cowan fired four shots at the man in the bed using gun he had just taken from the other man, striking him once in the side, causing the suspect to quickly throw down his gun and surrender. Reno Police Chief Clayton Philips said the suspect had vowed he’d “never be taken alive,” and had signed a confession that he had killed the two police officers.

    Seriously wounded, Geach was quickly taken by ambulance to the hospital; however, he did passed away en route. A mortally wounded Glass died in the hotel room.

    Geach had been with the agency for 12 years and was survived by his wife and two sons. He had been born in Montana, coming to Nevada to work on the railroad in Goldfield.

    He was elected to the Nevada Legislature in 1927 and later joined the Nevada State Police. He joined the Reno Police Department in July of 1935, having served the citizens of Reno for twelve years.

    Glass had been with the agency for three years, having enlisted in the U.S. Navy during WWII in the middle of his police career. Born in New York, he was married but had no children.

    On November 11, 1947, both Captain Geach and Sergeant Glass were laid to rest at the Mountain View Cemetery in Reno following an emotional service. Cowan and Reid, among others, served as pallbearers, carrying their body’s to the grave.

    Blackwell was convicted of the murders, sentenced to death, and executed April 22, 1949. Prior to his entering the gas chamber, he told authorities that his life of crime had snowball into its inevitable conclusion because he hung out with “wrong kind of people at an early age.”

    Even though Blackwell was only 19 when was executed he had already an extensive criminal background. He was born in Tacoma, Washington, and started to get into trouble when he was very young. He was sent to the Washington State Reformatory, and in 1947 escaped.

    He returned to Tacoma and shot and wounded David Wold who was 17 years old. Blackwell said that Wold had squealed on him.

    Blackwell then returned to the Washington State Reformatory where he enabled two companions to escape. They then went on a robbing spree throughout Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Nevada.

    Nine days after his initial escape from the Reformatory, Blackwell and his companions came to Reno. After robbing Charlie’s Cocktail Lounge at 325 South Virginia Street and The Highway 40 Tavern at 640 East 4th Street, of $3,800, they retreated to the Reno hotel.

    Arnold Thomassen, of Syracuse, Nebraska, the 21-year-old man behind the door, was taken into custody without harm. He too was an escapee from the reformatory in Tacoma.

    A third suspect, also a fellow escapee 21-year-old James Blake, of San Francisco, was arrested an hour after the shooting, as he returned to the room. He claimed he was only the get-away driver and had nothing to do with the actual robberies.

    Thomassen and Blake pleaded guilty to robbery in district court January 22, 1948 and were sentenced to terms of from five to 50 and five to 40 years in prison.

    Two days after having been sentenced to death, January 8, 1948, Blackwell was granted a stay of execution by action of the Supreme Court. He had been sentenced by Judge Mcrwyn Brown in district court to die during the week of March 14 to 20, 1948.

    The action was said to be a routine legal procedure following the filing of a notice for a new trial by Ernest Brown and Robert Wells, defense attorneys. Their appeal was based on the idea that Judge Taylor Wines had no legal right to disqualify himself in the case after accepting Blackwell’s plea of guilty; and the second that the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that the killing of Geach was premeditated.

    Wines disqualified himself after the confessed slayer entered a surprise plea of guilty to the first degree murder charges. In disqualifying himself, Wines stated, “My views on capital punishment are matter of common knowledge in this court and in this city. My feelings amount almost to prejudging the case. It is something I cannot rid myself of.”

    Wines was strongly opposed tp capital punishment for minors. His views on capital punishment would arise again in the case of Laszlo Varga, a Hungarian refugee that was accused of raping 22-year-old Billee Rahe Morning, a Wells, Nevada Presbyterian minister’s wife and then beating her to death with a rolling-pin.

    Varga died in Nevada’s gas chamber June 11, 1949. While awaiting execution he attacked and stabbed a prison guard several times with a pocket knife he had concealed on his person.

    As for Cowan, he had joined the Reno Police Department in the late 1930s as a patrolman. He quickly rose through the ranks to his assignment in Detectives and acted as a witness to the execution of Blackwell.

    At 5:14 that morning, Blackwell was strapped into the chair and by 5:26, he was dead, but not before recognizing Cowan with a nod and wink. An instant later the cyanide pellet, suspended by a string under the death chair, dropped in the pot holding the sulphuric acid , creating the lethal fumes.

    He took a deep breath and was unconscious with in seconds, according to official documents, filed by Nevada State Prison Physician, Dr. Richard Petty. Blackwell’s parents escorted his body from the prison to the Garden Cemetery in Gardnerville for burial.

    The Silver State National Peace Officers Museum in Virginia City has several items related to this crime, including Cowan’s badge, the handcuffs he placed on one of the suspects, his hand-gun, as well as the gun used by Blackwell to shoot and kill both officers.

    Both Geach and Glass are enshrined at the James D. Hoff Peace Officer Memorial, dedicated October 22, 1988, in Reno’s Idlewild Park. The memorial is named after Reno Police Officer James Hoff who was killed in 1979 while working undercover narcotics case by the suspects he was investigating.

  • The Hunt for Missing Randy Markin

    Last month, a friend from high school disappeared from his apartment in Arcata. The local media put out a standard ‘missing persons’ story based on what the police department issued in a bulletin, but it hasn’t brought him any closer to being brought home.

    In fact, when I learned Randy Markin had vanished, I wrote up a standard story using the same information provided by the Arcata Police Department. Now, after nearly two-weeks, with no sign of him, I’m on the hunt for more facts.

    The best place to start I figure is with the police themselves. I tried to speak with the lead investigator; someone named Garcia, but was politely told, “You need to mind your own business.”

    Ouch. While that didn’t come from ‘Garcia,’ as they were out of the office when I called, it intrigued me enough to understand that they might on the verge of a break-though on the case and don’t want some shlub-reporter screwing things up for them.

    Okay, then – where next? I turned my attention to the local newspaper reports online, which is usually a good source of information, but involves ‘reading between the lines,’ and can cause trouble if presented incorrectly.

    So, as I normally would do in a case like this I am presenting some of the comments left by readers of those newspaper reports, especially ‘Arcata Garden’s is a nightmare,’ in the “Lost Coast Outpost.” This person appears to know Randy well, but was too fearful on the day he disappeared to approach him or even call the authorities.

    “I saw Randy on the day he disappeared at around six a.m. sitting outside of my car,” writes, ‘Arcata Garden.’ “I couldn’t sleep that night because I had a very creepy feeling. I ran outside to get dog food that I had left in my car. He was sitting, not moving, leaned back in his wheel chair with his eyes rolled back with vacant or dazed look in them.”

    Now here’s the reason this person’s frightened:

    “You let those crazy tweekers move in with him under the guise of being his “caretaker” after they tried to burn us all up. If he turns up dead you may be criminally liable at this point.”

    ‘Arcata Garden,’ concludes, “We told you something bad would happen at Randy’s if you let them illegally hang around.”

    In a second posting to the same story on the same day, ‘Arcata Garden,’ confirms that they are afraid writing”… personally have been attacked, threatened, filmed, stalked and harrassed (sic) by the people hanging out in his apartment…Frankly I am scared of all of them.”

    But then ‘Arcata Garden’ does something remarkable. They name one of the ‘caretakers,’ as Kim and claims any sign of distress on her part is a show, “…she was off at the casino last night,” adding, “…no caretaker in their right mind would allow that kind of drug activity around a compromised man.”

    According to a family source, the apartment manager has changed the locks to his apartment and isn’t allowing anyone in. Meanwhile, someone has tried breaking into his mail box at least once since his disappearance.

    Randy is a 55-year-old white male, 6-foot-3 inches tall, 230-pound with long gray hair and brown eyes. He wears glasses and was last seen wearing a tie-dye T-shirt, long leather jacket and jeans.

    You’re asked to call the Arcata Police at 707-822-2428 if you know his whereabouts or have information about his disappearance.

  • Nevada Picks Businesses to Support or Destroy

    In September 2014, the State of Nevada announced a grand deal with Tesla, which is going to make lithium ion battery at a factory east of the Reno/Sparks area. The same state authorities are now doing their best to shut down the ride-share program, “Uber,” which started operating in Nevada last month.

    The attempt to halt Uber is proof of three things. One is that there is too much regulation in the way of Nevada business and second, the Sandoval administration doesn’t care that Nevada’s citizenry is struggling to find work and that any opportunity to earn a paycheck is a good thing.

    Thirdly – it is not the state governments’ job, nor is it the Sandoval administrations duty to pick-and-choose what businesses can and cannot operate in Nevada.

  • A Real ‘Living’ Hero

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    The breakfast of champions has a new, unforgettable face. Lauren Hill has landed on the front of the Wheaties cereal box.

    She suffers from an inoperable brain tumor and is a freshman at tiny NCAA Division III Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati. Her dying wish was to step onto a college basketball court.

    She scored the first and last baskets of Sunday’s 66-55 win over Hiram College, a game that was moved up two weeks to accommodate the fast-deteriorating Hill. An MRI revealed the finding in November 2013 when Hill was a senior at Lawrenceburg High School in Greendale, Illinois.

    Compare and contrast Lauren’s story to Brittany Maynard’s, who captivated the national media with her public decision to end her life.

  • Dichotomy of the Belt Buckle

    Nevada turned 150-years-old on Halloween. I would love to buy myself one of those silver cowboy belt buckles that commemorates the anniversary.

    I bought one when the state was but 125-years-old in 1989.

    As I wrote this down, I realized the dichotomy of the situation and found myself chuckling. That’s because I realized due to the economy, I can’t afford to buy one and yet I’m not yet so broke that I have to sell the one I already own.

  • Nevada’s 2014 Election Results Delayed

    Final election results were delayed Tuesday night and were not posted until early Wednesday morning. Jus’ more electoral hanky-panky involving Secretary of State Ross Miller’s office?

    I’ll let you decide.

    Washoe County’s Registrar of Voters said this: “State software having trouble reading files for final verification of absentee ballots. Registrar’s office is working with software vendor.”

    Remember though — weird stuff happened all across Nevada in 2010 and 2012, so I’m sure there’s a ‘legitimate’ reason behind the so-called ‘trouble.’ Unfortunately we’ll never really know what the real ‘trouble’ was.

  • The Mixing of Personal Politics and Professional Reporting

    It’s been over eight-years now since being fired for personally blogging my political opinion while working as a newspaper reporter. Labeled ‘unethical,’ I was subject of conversation at the local university and the world-wide web.

    I honestly don’t think a reporter should be separated from their opinion, but I also believe it is up to the reporter to make certain their opinion is separate from the non-private work they present.

    Recently, KOLO-TV’s Sarah Johns, had to remove a Facebook posting that supported a California friend’s political campaign. Someone wrote an email to her station manager complaining, and Sarah being the professional that she is, did as asked.

    Her co-worker, Amanda Sanchez was possibly in the toughest position when it came to reporting local political news. Her sister Hillary Schieve is now Reno’s new mayor-elect and not once did I ever hear Amanda speak about her sis’ campaign.

    There is also the case of KRNV’s Jon Ralston who used his television show and his blog to slam attorney general-elect Adam Laxalt time and again during this campaign season. Ralston never mentioned once his relationship with former Governor Bob Miller, the father of Laxalt’s opponent, Ross Miller.

    In his autobiography, “Son of a Gambling Man,” the former governor thanked Ralston for his writing help:

    “Importantly, I also thank my friend Jon Ralston… I am so honored that Jon agreed to help me in this endeavor. He provided immense help in shaping my unrefined vision of the parallels between my life’s progression and that of Nevada. He played an invaluable role in transforming a very raw draft into my life story. I deeply appreciate his help… I certainly owe him thanks for his instrumental assistance in the pages that follow…”

    Finally, KTVN’s Erin Breen’s look at the various local and statewide political ads, was the best this campaign season. She went neither left nor right when it came to reviewing the facts (and fiction) of each commercial.

    Sometimes the line is very clear — sometimes it ain’t.

  • The Divide Remains

    KRNV reporter Terri Hendry made this observation via Twitter during the mid-term election celebration’s in Reno: “At GOP headquarters at the Peppermill, FOX is on the TV. At Dem headquarters, it’s MSNBC. No surprises there.”

    Obviously, neither party has learned anything…